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That's exactly why I'm agnostic and not necessarily atheist.

For instance, if you were to say God were like the Tao of the Tao te Ching; nameless, formless, gives birth to all with no personal connection to any...I'd be more inclined to agree with you simply because you've given me a more transcendental definition that's simply beyond scientific proof, it has to be more divined through meditation or some other such craft. (Even then, there's still reason for doubt because I have no empirical evidence to support it.)

However if you tell me God's a big man in the sky that listens to your prayers and has definitive actions on earth, well, you've stated quite clearly how he behaves now it's just a matter of showing. Since you can't, I adamantly disagree.

I'm with Kant on this one.

I realize this is an old post, but I just realized that I never responded. XD
So here it is:
Certainly it can exist, but only as a concept.
If I think of the Flying Spaghetti Monster then the concept of the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists.
If I truly believe in Him (It?), that will have real consequences for me.
But the FSM will not sprout from my imagination and start answering prayers simply because I believe.
Same with any other God.

If a deity spoke to me, then I would consider that proof for myself. But I would not consider someone else trying to tell me that they saw a deity proof, nor would I try to use my encounter with that deity as proof to try to convince someone else. Mostly because people can hallucinate, make mistakes, or ultimately lie.

My assertion is this: No person can prove that God (not any specific God, just a God) does or does not exist.
I welcome anyone to challenge that.

The Tao te Ching itself never actually mentions any Gods or Goddesses, although the Tao is often referred to as a creative force similar to one...but not quite.







(Please note that these quotations are from a translation by *Charles Muller. I'll be the first to admit that his version isn't a literal translation, but has been done so that it makes more sense in English. I can pull up a literal translation by Robert Moss that also contains notes on possible other translations of characters and also lists which stanzas were in what discovered texts.)

When one speaks of the pantheon of Gods Taoists worship, these are more traditional Gods from Chinese culture in general. You have to remember first that Taoism is more a philosophy than true religion, although it makes enough comments on ethics and moral behavior that you can certainly categorize it as such. You also have to remember that most Chinese aren't just one religion, they also practice Confucianism, Buddhism, etc. When looking at anyone's religious practices from China, you have to know what you're looking for to separate the different modes of thinking and worship.

When reading it one of the things to bear in mind is that the English translations can have a lot of variety. Some go above and beyond literally translating it to make the prose easier to understand in English. A lot of copies will actually make the sage that Lao Tzu promotes a person should be into a female, simply to enhance the aspect of taking the humble, low, female path. If you had trouble reading it before, the Barnes and Noble edition translated by Charles Muller does a good job of making it a bit easier to read. But yeah different translations will say different things, for instance Stanza 7:

God is that one guy I dont believe in. He is kinda like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and sane conservatives. We all want to believe they exist but they dont. Yeah, thats God.

Main Entry: de·i·ty
Pronunciation: ˈdē-ə-tē, ˈdā-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural de·i·ties
Etymology: Middle English deitee, from Anglo-French deité, from Late Latin deitat-, deitas, from Latin deus god; akin to Old English Tīw, god of war, Latin divus god, dies day, Greek dios heavenly, Sanskrit deva heavenly, god
Date: 14th century
1 a : the rank or essential nature of a god : divinity b capitalized : god 1, supreme being
2 : a god or goddess
3 : one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful

This is how I would define Deity. The third definition is the only thing I would not completely agree with. I can see people as being extremly good or powerful, not based on their abilities, but based on their actions.

Quote:

Global ideologies (religions or philosophies) answer this question in very different ways, so by telling me you're atheist, you essentially are telling me... nothing! Unless of course I make some assumptions based on the more common ways of seeing the divine in whatever country you happen to be culturally immersed in.

That is probably the best way to look at it. Being Atheist means diffrent things to diffrent people and most likely does have alot to do with whatever country they happen to be in. As cultures are diffrent, so are interpretations of what things mean.

Quote:

So here's my challenge. How do YOU define the divine? What SPECIFIC kind of divine-concept or concepts do you lack belief in? Supernatural ones? Transcendent ones? What?

Main Entry: 1di·vine
Pronunciation: də-ˈvīn
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): di·vin·er; di·vin·est
Etymology: Middle English divin, from Anglo-French, from Latin divinus, from divus god — more at deity
Date: 14th century
1 a : of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God or a god b : being a deity c : directed to a deity
2 a : supremely good : superb b : heavenly, godlike

I would say as an Atheist that anything that is to be said to have come from god, created by god, inspired by god, would be untrue. I think things like art, and so on that can look awe inspireing are just really good works of man. So the work divine can be used, like the example in the definition to me, means, better then usually made, so above others.

As to my definition for god, or why god was created, I think its already been answered. God was created with many purposes. A way to answer questions that seemed to not have an answer. A method of control, and an answer to questions that can not be answered such as, what happens when we die.

Watching kids while writing this so I hope it all makes sense, had to leave the computer several times and to busy to proofread.

I have no disbelief in anything. I am an atheist because I define divine as something better than sentience. Not a higher level of sentience or a smarter one but like the next big advance. First there was matter, then energy, then a bunch of time passed supposedly, then life happens. Sentience upgrades life and what upgrades that? Nothing I can imagine and I ******** pride myself on my imagination. So I believe there is no great big advance after sentience though I fear there may be just one to prove me a bit wacked.

I hear deity and I think of a powerful or semi-powerful being made by humans to give great wishes or spiteful curses for an almighty purpose. In other words, it's an illustrated character made into reality and then worshiped.

As for WHY I'm an Agnostic Atheist, it is because I have no reason to believe in any deities. I have no proof, reason, or self-experience with any spiritualness of any kind. Because of that, I'm what I am.